9/06/2010

The need for backups

I've read the post at http://successfulsoftware.net about 10 things which non-technical users do not understand. During our work with Firebird database recoveries we interact mostly with people considered as IT professionals - developers and system administrators, but we can confirm the absolute truth of the following words regarding backups:

8. The need for backups

Every few days I get an email from someone who has lost all their data because they had a major hardware problem and no backups on a separate device. Sometimes this is because they don’t even realize the data is stored on their computer. You can mention the need for back-ups in your documentation and/or in the software, but it is unlikely to make much difference. History shows that this is a lesson most people have to learn the hard way (techies included). Mentioning it doesn’t hurt though and it might help to defuse an angry users if you point it out to them after the event.

Consider this post as a small reminder that your Firebird database should have backups, and they should be done in the right way.